In the meantime many words have been writen about the Catalan “issue”. Questioning whether it is legal, ilegal, legitimate, democratic, sensible… one can easily get lost in the many reasons pro and against Catalonia becoming the newest state in Europe. I think that today this debate is interesting but irrelevant; the inaction from the side of the Spanish political elite together with the self-confidence built by the social movements in Catalonia make very difficult any option other than spliting the country. As long as the process was in the hands of politicians one could trust that negotiations could be resumed, however when the process has been taken over by the citizens any compromise will be almost impossible. I believe it is too late for Spain to stop Catalonia from leaving. However the loss of one of its main economic engines can have the positive aspect of triggering political reforms in Spain that so far have been impossible.

How did we get to this culdesac? Why is the Spanish government closing any door to negotiation, using dirty tricks to gain time whilst continue to treat a good amount of its own citizens with such disdain and lack of respect? To me, this is the key of the question, a question that the process of Catalan independence can help to fix, albeit at the price of losing this prosperous region for the Spanish cause.

Spain’s political arena is blocked since 30 years. Shortly after the approval of the Spanish constitution and with the arrival of bipartidism to Spain the country saw some years of economic and political progress. The 90s started to show the limits of the system, the first years of the century the system needed an urgent reshuffle and during the last years the lack of reform has brought endless cases of corruption, nepotism, clielentelism, bad legislation, power abuse and others. Both the conservative and the socialist parties have been alternating majorities in the Spanish parliament and both have had an interest for this to continue to happen. Changing the electoral system is challenging but reform was and continues to be unavoidable, yet both parties use the constitution to shield themselves from reality. Not even the current economic and social crisis has managed to trigger political reforms in this country.

As a result, Catalonia after having tried for decades to reform the system has had to find its way out of it as the only solution capable of addressing their legitimate concerns. If a system doesn’t work you try to change it, if you can’t change it you decide to go play somewhere else with different rules that fit you. I have the feeling that it might be too late to reverse the Catalan will for independence; for it is difficult to awaken a large community but once she starts moving it is even more difficult to stop it. However one can look at the break-up of Spain as the opportunity to finally reform Spain and save it from itself.

The separation of Catalonia doesn’t mean that Catalonia goes away, she will stay exactly where it is but minding her own businesses and keeping the taxes for herself. In a common market, trade between Spain and Catalonia will continue to work well and cooperation between the two countries will need to be good because it is through Catalonia that most of Spanish products will find their way into Europe.

It is a fact that Spain will be poorer without Catalunya. But with the current utterly inneficient and unfair Spanish system of political and economic governance the future will only bring a ruined Catalonia inside a ruined Spain and this is not good for either of them. Instead, if Catalonia manages to make the best use of its resources thanks to having its own state, whereby increasing the demand of products from Spain and supplying with better products, it can prove to be more useful as a prosperous economic partner than as a bankrupt subdit. Moreover, without Catalonia Spain will run out of excuses to reform its mechanisms of fiscal solidarity and will need to find real solutions to develop proper plans for some of its lagging regions other than subsidies.

At the end of the day what a break-up does mean is that the Spanish constitution will finally have to be amended, that a new electoral law will need to be written, that the fiscal policy will need to be redesigned and that, all in all, there is a possibility of a new beginning for Spain. For a long time the Catalans have been trying to reform Spain and the quest for independence is a clear sign that they failed. This failure doesn’t mean that they were wrong, Spain needed reform and it seems it will only get it when Catalonia leaves.

It is in the interest of the Spanish, the Catalans, and Europeans in general to see Spain finally having to reform. Losing one of its economic motors is a high price to pay but for the moment it looks like this is the only medicine that can have an effect on Spanish partitocracy.

About jm

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This question remnids me the history of Yugoslavia (it started to fall apart exactly the same way Big economical crisys (from 1980 tb4ill 1991), Croatians and Slovenes wanted tax revenues to be invest at their own federal republic and bigger linguistical and cultural autonomy. Both countries (former yugo and Spain) have ghosts of the past that are still alive (Spain had the Spanish civil war and Yugo the II WW, when shitler used the divisions among croats, muslims and serbs to divide the country. We would make a better future if we would learn more about the history of Europe in order not to comitt the same mistakes .Whit this last sentence, I want to say that it is more than time for both parts relax their speech, sit around the table and take measures to resolve the debt situation, for the sake of all Europe, instead of having radical speaches that only serve to hide to the people their own mistakes (both from central government of Spain and Catalonia) and comitt a huge mistake! Have no doubts, if Catalonia goes for the independence referendum, the army will invade it, and the least I want, as a citizen of eurioe, is another war in Europe, I already had enough of it with yugo wars The real important questions ythat need answers, not only in Catalonia but in wholle Spain Why does Catalonia, the richest region of Spain,got with a debt of 48.000 milion euros? Where did the milions of euros invest by the governments of the autonomous provinces of Spain went? How come 25% of Spaniish people is unemployed? And last and more important of all How does Spain resolve this situation?